Alfred Montmarquette ~ melodeon (1871-1944)
Adélard Saint-Jean - bones & Jaw Harp
Édouard Bolduc - piano
etc...
"Self-taught musician Alfred Montmarquette began learning the accordion at the age of twelve. In adulthood, he recorded for Columbia and other companies, performed for variety shows at the Monument National in Montréal, and reportedly stopped traffic with his playing at city market days! His lively, agile style endures on the 78rpm recordings presented here."
"Alfred Montmarquette was born in New York on April 6, 1871. A self-taught man, he quickly learned and mastered the folksong repertoire while still an adolescent. Having moved to Montréal in the early 1920s, he was more than 50 years old when Conrad Gauthier's Veillées du bon vieux temps made him known to city audiences.
With the bones player Adélard Saint-Jean and the pianist Henri Langlois, Montmarquette formed a trio that recorded first on the Brunswick label (1928) under the names of Trio du Vieux-Québec, Trio Sainte-Catherine, Vieux Quatuor québécois and Vagabonds de Montréal. Between 1928 and 1932, Alfred Montmarquette recorded more than 110 pieces for the Starr record company, including "Marche Montmarquette", "Marche Cécilia", "Valse Clarisse", "Valleyfield Reel", "Valse des nations" and "Marche de Trois-Rivières". Alfred Montmarquette also recorded with Ovila Légaré, Eugène Daigneault and Mary Bolduc, the singer who was also his neighbour. Like most traditional musicians of his era, he could not make a living from his music. Sickness, age and alcoholism condemned him to poverty, and he died in an asylum for the elderly in Montréal on May 24, 1944."
"The troupe, Veillées canadiennes regularly broadcasted from Montréal radio stations CKAC and CFCF."
"Alfred Montmarquette: Masters of French-Canadian Music, Vol. 2"
Folkways Records - FWRBF111
http://www.folkways.si.edu/search/AlbumDetails.aspx?ID=497
Alfred Montmarquette ~ melodeon (1871-1944)
Adélard Saint-Jean - bones & Jaw Harp
Édouard Bolduc - piano
etc...
"Self-taught musician Alfred Montmarquette began learning the accordion at the age of twelve. In adulthood, he recorded for Columbia and other companies, performed for variety shows at the Monument National in Montréal, and reportedly stopped traffic with his playing at city market days! His lively, agile style endures on the 78rpm recordings presented here."
The Virtual Gramophone: Alfred Montmarquette ~
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/gramophone/m2-1041-e.html
"Alfred Montmarquette was born in New York on April 6, 1871. A self-taught man, he quickly learned and mastered the folksong repertoire while still an adolescent. Having moved to Montréal in the early 1920s, he was more than 50 years old when Conrad Gauthier's Veillées du bon vieux temps made him known to city audiences.
With the bones player Adélard Saint-Jean and the pianist Henri Langlois, Montmarquette formed a trio that recorded first on the Brunswick label (1928) under the names of Trio du Vieux-Québec, Trio Sainte-Catherine, Vieux Quatuor québécois and Vagabonds de Montréal. Between 1928 and 1932, Alfred Montmarquette recorded more than 110 pieces for the Starr record company, including "Marche Montmarquette", "Marche Cécilia", "Valse Clarisse", "Valleyfield Reel", "Valse des nations" and "Marche de Trois-Rivières". Alfred Montmarquette also recorded with Ovila Légaré, Eugène Daigneault and Mary Bolduc, the singer who was also his neighbour. Like most traditional musicians of his era, he could not make a living from his music. Sickness, age and alcoholism condemned him to poverty, and he died in an asylum for the elderly in Montréal on May 24, 1944."
"The troupe, Veillées canadiennes regularly broadcasted from Montréal radio stations CKAC and CFCF."
# Posted on January 7th 2007 by ceolachan